George Wyth Beach

The #1 item on our summer bucket list was to go to a beach.  I have been wanting to take the kids to a beach ever since our trip to Mexico in February.  Since we're not willing to fly or drive the kids to an ocean beach right now, I had to look around for an alternative in the middle of Iowa.  Luckily, the beach at George Wyth Lake in George Wyth State Park just 15 min. away has opened up for the first time since the 2008 flood.  There is a brand new restroom/bath house facility and all new sand.  It's not a Caribbean white sand beach, but for kids who have never experienced a beach before, it was heaven!

It was spur of the moment, but I picked a cloudy Friday afternoon that wasn't too hot.  We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed it on a blanket.  Then the kids spent the next 3 hours digging in the sand, splashing in the water and getting braver as they got wetter.  I honestly don't care for natural water swimming of any kind.  I only go in as far as I can still see what my feet will be stepping on, which was about ankle-deep in this case.  I wasn't even wearing a swimsuit. 

The kids didn't mind the lake water at all.  I had fun building a real sandcastle.  Lincoln had fun destroying it. :o)  It was fascinating watching the kids--especially Emily--experiment and discover what happens when you pile up sand certain ways and dump water certain ways and how river channels form and sand erodes, etc.  I was reliving childhood memories of having a garden hose in the big square sandbox.  The kids were conked out in bed 2 hours earlier than normal that night.  We are all excited to go back again sometime!

Swimming lessons

We completed another bucket list item this week--swimming lessons.  I believe swimming lessons are a necessary childhood rite of passage even though I dreaded them growing up.  This summer Emily was in the Preschool II class.  She did great and got very positive feedback from her teachers.  Based on past experience, it may have helped that I bribed her with a new "Emily" engine if she listened, participated and passed the class.  ;o)

I specifically picked a class time for Emily that coincided with a parent/toddler class that Lincoln & I could take together.  I wasn't expecting to learn a whole lot, but it was something to do other than dragging Lincoln to the observation area during Emily's lessons kicking & screaming, "I want to swim, too!!"  Plus, it was a cheap way to be able to go swimming eight times as well as get Lincoln more comfortable in the water.  Lincoln had fun and did okay, although he didn't ever want to blow bubbles or put his face in.  He has to work on keeping his mouth closed and not smiling/laughing so much!  He also chickened out going down the water slide on the last day.  I was ready to be done after the third day.  I guess things haven't changed much. :o)

Lincoln Logs

Emily has been working on her structural engineering skills lately.  These are multiple views of one of her recent original designs.  Lincoln has been working on his demolition skills. ;o)

Riding in style

I found a barely used bike trailer on a Facebook for sale group and now we're riding in style!

End of T-ball

This week was the final T-ball game.  It was an extra game added at the last minute.  I think it was just so Grandpa & Grandma Boote could see Emily play!  My parents were visiting because my dad had an all-day dairy meeting in Independence.  He made it just in time for the game, and they were still able to head home afterward.

Last handshake line for #10

The cool participant trophy all the kids received with their name and team engraved on it.  Emily was so excited!

Radishes

The kids had a lot of fun harvesting our crop of radishes.  I pretty much planted them just for the fun of it since Austin is the only one who even likes them, although both Emily & I tried one--well Emily licked one. ;o)

A [painful] half marathon

Austin started running again this spring with the goal of improving his time in the Sturgis Falls Half Marathon in Cedar Falls.  He was doing great with his training and was on track to knock almost 15 minutes off his time.  However, about two weeks ago he started experiencing pain in his right foot.  A trip to the doctor last weekend revealed a negative x-ray with a diagnosis of Achilles Tendinitis.  Of course, the only real cure is rest, but Austin had worked so hard he decided to run the race anyway.

I literally dragged the kids out of bed after the race had already started so we could make it to the turnaround point at Gateway park around mile 10.  Austin was in a lot of pain the whole time, but he beat us to the finish line and came in at 1:55--only 2 minutes more than last year.  Now it's lots of rest, ice and Aleve!

Birthday bike

Austin & Emily surprised me today with a brand new bike for my birthday!  I received a 10-speed mountain bike on my 10th birthday from my grandma and finally ditched it when I graduated from college nine years ago.  I haven't owned a bike since.  It's long overdue!  Emily did a great job of picking out a cool purple (my favorite color) bike AND keeping it a secret for two weeks (they first picked it out while running errands during the garage sale).

We took a family ride around the neighborhood to try it out.  Unfortunately, Lincoln just can't keep up on his little tricycle. :o(  Emily & I went on an hour long ride later in the afternoon and checked out some new trail extensions that just opened this week.  After the kids went to bed I took a solo trip at full speed to Fareway to grab something for lunch tomorrow.  What fun! 

I have a lead on a used bike trailer for Lincoln.  I can't wait to do more biking!

Electronic recycling

I have been in a real organizing/cleaning mood for the last two days.  I harnessed the opportunity and finished cleaning up and putting things away in the attic and basement post garage sale.  One large pile of stuff that remained was "electronic trash".  I recently learned the Best Buy accepts old electronics and recycles them.  Austin packed up everything in the truck and dropped it off this morning.  The load included a 19" box TV, two computer towers (sans hard drives), three old/broken printers and at least two VCR and/or DVD players.  It turns out they weren't as excited about taking the smaller stuff like keyboards and cords.  Both Austin & I are just glad to have all that stuff off of the shelves and floor of the basement storage closet!

Soccer camp

One of the summer activities I signed Emily up for this summer was a mini soccer camp at Wartburg.  It was for 45 min. on MWF for two weeks.  About 25 kids ages 5-6 attended to learn basic soccer skills and terminology.  It was a good way to expose kids to the game and test the waters without jumping into a huge commitment.  I learned a lot, too, since I had almost no prior knowledge about the sport.

Emily had fun and was eager to attend and participate for the most part.  She was not overly aggressive, but did okay.  I could see her having fun playing recreationally.  It was the general consensus among the parents I sat by that they wanted to let their kid at least try soccer out and would be willing to go with it if they absolutely loved it, but were secretly hoping their kid didn't get into it so they wouldn't have to spend the next 10+ years traveling all over the territory every weekend playing endless numbers of games.  I think I'd have to agree. ;o)

Below are some snapshots of Emily on the last day (she's wearing pink shirt/black shorts).  There is also a video of the boys vs. girls "game" they played one day (she's wearing purple shorts/brown polka-dot tank top--yeah, she picked that one out herself).  You can hear Lincoln cheering beside me.  I was thankful on the two really hot, humid days they moved it from the football field into the air-conditioned field house. :o)